


The Path Paved With Good Intentions

by BriNn7



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Friendship, Gang Violence, Gen, Gotham City - Freeform, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, original main character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 11:21:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24848962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BriNn7/pseuds/BriNn7
Summary: Golden curls and hanging feet.Nobody stays, she's alone.Cassie's hungry.Be kind.
Relationships: Jason Todd & Original Female Character(s), No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. golden curls and hanging feet

**Author's Note:**

> If I ever finish this I'm going to be an emotional wreck. By god I hope you will be to.

When Cassie is young, she's happy. Her mothers golden curls bounce in the wind and her fathers laughter is contagious. She stares out the window trying to find the stars in the smoggy Gotham night sky. Much like the child she is, she thinks that this is it. This is how life will be forever.

She's four. 

And Gotham isn't that kind. An older her looks back now, remembers how she searched the sky for stars. Foolishly, even now, she looks up at the sky and hopes that just once, just once, she'll see a pinprick of light pierce though the darkness. The only light she has in her life now is a message that was whispered through her mothers lips. An answer to the question she'd asked when they gave the elderly lady downstairs their leftovers. It's the advice her father gave her after he gave a man sitting on the street some money.

_Be kind_

It's the only light she has in the darkness she's found herself in.

_"I'm sorry," the gun shakes in her hand._

...

It starts with yelling. Yelling which happen all day and all night. Everyday the screaming matches crack the fragile layer of naivety all children were born with. Little cracks that elude to a bigger picture. Cassie knows it'll shatter soon. She can try to ignore it. She can cover her ears. She can curl into a ball. She can hide in her room and mutter under her breathe all she wants. It won't last forever.

_Be kind._

Screaming turns into hitting, turns into slammed doors, turns into her mommy crying alone in the kitchen. daddy had stormed out again and won't be back till the tomorrow. Her mummy sits alone at the kitchen table with a brown bottle hanging limply in her hand. It's from the high shelf. Cassie's four and she doesn't know what she's meant to do. Her stomach grumbles and her mouth is dry. She's hungry. So, she pulls at her mummy's skirt and ask for something to eat, or at least something to drink. Her mother wipes her eyes with her free hand and smiled gently down at her. Something about that smile is wrong and icky but what else was is she meant to do?

"Just give me a minute Cassie mommy just needs a moment."

Cassie doesn't want to say that the moment never ends. That the moment hasn't ended since the last time she said it. But she's scared. She's scared that if she pushes to far her mommy won't want to get her food. Scared that her mommy won’t even look at her. Daddy comes home the next day like she expected. The bottle which hung loosely in her mommy's grip slips and shatters on the kitchen tiles.

The yelling starts again.

She's four and a half and, the fragile wall of naivety is cracked so much she's scared it'll cut her when it comes crumbling down. The Gotham air is particularly cold today and all she has is her ratty jumper to keep her warm. A loud thump comes from the front of the house and she trots towards the front door. Daddy is screaming at mommy who's clutching her cheek and staring blankly at the floor. Eventually her daddy finishes and leaves, making sure to slam the door behind him. He won't be back for a while. His trips away had been getting longer and longer. When Cassie's lonely she likes to sit in front of the door and wait for him to come home. Cause he always comes home. Always. Mommy is still laying on the floor with a hand on her cheek and a distant look in her eyes. Cassie pulled on her skirt once again. She just wants some food, that's all... Looking back Cassie wonders if she had let her mother be, would things would have been different?

Life is rarely so kind.

Her mother had given her another smile and Cassie hated how she hated this one the most. She hates how it's the last smile she'd ever see.

"Mommy just needs a nap then she'll feed you."

...

Mommy goes into her room.

...

Mommy doesn't come out.

...

The sun went down long ago and Cassie had been sitting patiently at the table waiting. It feels like she was always waiting but, what else was she meant to do? She doesn't want to wake up her mommy because she'd been so tired recently, and waking up tired people isn't kind so she couldn't do it. But... she was really hungry. She her chewed her lip in thought. It isn't kind to wake tired people she can’t. With her resolution decided she stops chewing her lip and headed to bed. It's a neat trick, she can't be hungry if she's asleep. Besides mommy will probably make breakfast in the morning.

The memory of golden curls becomes mixed with hanging feet as Cassie stares blankly at her mommy hanging from the ceiling. The wooden chair is laying on the floor a little to her mommy's left and the morning light makes her glow like an angel, and Cassie knows. She knows something is wrong. It's wrong how slack the face is. It's wrong how all she can see is the ghost of smile on her mommy's face. 

...

Her daddy comes home three days later.

He isn't happy.

Cassie's hungry. 

_Be kind._

...

Cassie is five today her daddy had deiced to take her the amusement park to celebrate. He grips the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles look like their going to pop, but even that doesn't stop the big grin she has on her face. Since mommy had died, daddy hadn't really... done anything. He just sat in there in his room, sometimes he sat in the wooden chair and stared at where mommy had been. In good news though, Cassie had learnt how to cook! She also figured out how to get on the kitchen bench to use the sink for water. The only problem she's really had is that her daddy hadn't been grocery shopping and the last meal she had "cooked" was peanut butter on five crackers.

"Thank you!" she blurts out randomly and he raises an eyebrow. His grip relaxes.

"Thank you for what?" he asked curiously.

Cassie gives him a funny look, "for taking me to the park for my birthday silly!"

Daddy blinks in confusion before his eyes widen in a realisation, Cassie ignores the sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Your welcome."

She brightens anyway and she knows she can't stop the conversation now. This is the most they've talked in weeks.

"I've been doing what you mommy said to do to!" she said quickly. Again her father looks confused.

"What's that?" he asks as he pulls into the amusement park car park.

She starting to wonder if maybe her daddy had hit his head, "to be kind."

His grip on the wheel has become a bony white again as he parked the car. He stares at her in horror and she doesn't understand why. They sit in silence for a while before she decides its about time to unbuckle and have the best birthday ever. Her father grabs her arm before she can.

"Cassie. I, whatever happens you remember that alright. You remember to be kind. If your kind to others kindness will find you," he tells her oddly seriously. She blinks trying to commit it to memory before nodding. Be kind and kindness will find you. That sounds nice. They get out of the car and proceed to have the best birthday a five year-old Cassie would ever remember. Until she loses daddy. He's gone and no matter how hard she looks he can't find him. Tears fall thick down her face and she clutches a cute bird plushy. It's grey and has a funny yellow hat, her daddy had won it for her. After two hours a family notices her and takes her to the front desk where they call the police.

...

It's after the sun goes down that Cassie realises her daddy isn't coming back and so does everybody else. She's holds the plushy tightly as she's taken in a police car to a grey building with a tall and spiky metal fence.

She'd been left behind. The wall shatters.

It hurts.

A woman greets them at the front door. She's tall and stick like with a bun that pulls back her wrinkles, her lips curled distasteful as though they'd just sucked on something sour. She glares at Cassie like Cassie had committed the foulest crime in all of Gotham.

Cassie sees a child sneak into the kitchen. The gangly woman also spots him and their forced to follow her. She hits the child and scolds them for eating outside of meal time. Cassie feels the tears fall down her face. She see how thin the boy is and looks up to the officer. He’s clearly uncomfortable but he’s not doing anything. It hits Cassie then why her father had said those words that day.

She had to be Kind.

The boy was crying now too.

She had to be kind.

Had to be kind where others weren't.


	2. empty plate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kids are hungry.
> 
> Hungrier than Cassie.
> 
> The older girl is mad and she doesn't know why
> 
> Be kind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment or leave Kudos if you like it, thanks

There's a heiracy. That's the first thing Cassie learns. The older you were the more power you had. She's cornored within a few hours and hit by two kids while they taught her a 'lesson'. Within the week she realises that these 'lessons' arn't the only thing the older kids did. Food was a luxary. The Madame was strict with the food scedule and tried to make what she had last as she could. She always muttered about budget cuts whatever that meant. Still, food was sparse. Cassie never really had much. Nobody ever did. Not unless you took it. Took it like the older kids took it.

Cassie saw them hit another girl around there age for spitting in their face before the took her food. The older girl had cried by herself on the floor while everyone ignored her. Cassie should probably ignore her too. It's the smart thing to do. It's what Gotham would do. 

Be kind.

"Here you can have mine," Cassie looked down at the girl before her. 

She tilted her head up to look at Cassie, her face was red from crying, "what?"

Cassie shoved her plate towards her, "have mine."

The older girl stared at the younger in confusion. She didn't understand. Cassie felt eyes watching her. She darted her head nervously around her only a few kids seemed to be paying attention. Their expressions unreadable. The older girls before hers confused stare turned into a glare as she looked from the plate to Cassie.

"Did you do something to it?"

"No."

"Did someone else do something to it?"

"No."

"Then why are you giving it to me?" the girl hissed.

Cassie stomach grumbled, but the other girl's was louder, "because you're hungry."

"But you're hungry too?' she asked confused.

Cassie sighed and placed the food on the ground where the girl was, "you can eat it or not. My mommy says that it's rude to return gifts so you have to eat it," and with that she walked away. She didn't look back till she was at the door. The older girl was ravenously eating off the plate and Cassie wondered if one day that would be her. More importantly would there be more?

The answer was yes.

But Cassie was going to do her best to make it a no.

A thought popped into her mind and she knew would get her into trouble.

Be kind.

...

She only ate the the stuff which went bad quickly. The stuff which would stink and give away her hiding space. Luckily it was only a small part of the meal and majority of it was able to go into storage. She had to abandon the hiding space after two weeks because it was eaten by rats. This time she'd put it higher.

Cassie offered food for the first time to a boy who had his lunch stolen.

Discretly as possible she took him to the abandanded storage room and to the cupboard. It wasn't much. Afterall it was only only her meals which had been put inside, nobody elses. Yet, the boys face lit up as he excitedly looked to the five-and-three-month-year-old Cassie for permisson to grab food. Cassie nodded and the boy started eating. The smile he had on his face was all she needed.

So she kept going.

More and more younger kids slowly joined the secret.

Sometimes, very rarely, someone else would leave food behind.

That was fine. The gesture alone was enough.

Cassie would make sure the closet stayed stocked.

It felt like a secret soceity. An alliance all the younger kids were in on. A revoultion against the older kids.

There was no way they could get caught.

...

She got caught.

The Madame glared down at her disdainfully. On her right side stood all the older kids except the girl who she gave food to in the first week. They were eager to watch her get punished for her crimes. On the Madame's left stood the younger kids, their eyes begged forgiveness. Cassie thinks she knows why.

"I've been told you've been hoarding food," spoke the Madame. Cassie opened her mouth to defend herself but nothing came out. There was nothing she could say that would dissuade the strict woman from punishment. the best she could do was stay silent.

"No defence?"

Cassie stayed quiet.

"Who else was invoved?"

"Just me Madame. The food was all for me."

It was a big lie. everybody knew it. The younger kids teared up but their looks of thanks was enough.

It had to be enough.

The Madame grabbed her roughly by the arm, making sure to dig her nails into the skin. Cassie let out a cry of pain but nobody helped her. She's five and seven months and nobody in the orphange dare breathe as she was dragged away. They wouldn't lift a hand to help. Nobody would. The mocking sound of the older kids laughing makes Cassie truly accept what had happened. She'd been sold out. The Madame's grip got tighter as Cassie tried to get away. Blood trickled down her arm as she was thrown into a closet.

"Reflect in their and I expect names when I return!" exclaimed the Madame primly before locking her in. Cassie hammered on the door trying to get out. It was dark. There wasn't any room to move. Was this meant to be the kindness finding her like her daddy talked about?

The Madame came back hours later. Cassie had definitely missed dinner but her stomach hadn't even growled. The door opend and she tumbled out and stared at the polished black shoes of the Madame. Lying was bad. Lying wasn't something a kind person would do. But, it had to be done.

"I'm sorry for hoarding food, I'll never do it again," the lie tasted like ash in her mouth.

"And names?"

Cassie stayed quiet. The Madame tsked and walked away. Thinking that she had manged to scare the young girl enough for her to never do it again.

Well, Cassie would just have to start again tomorrow.

And back into the wardrobe she went.

...

No one talked to her. Not the younger kid. Not the older kids. Well, that was a lie. The younger kids asked her for food, sometimes when food was really sparse the older kids would to. They mainly played games with her. Games which invloved grabbing her hair and tripping her and telling lies to get her into more trouble. It was worth it though. To see the smiles on kids who's tummy's were at least a quarter full, to see the looks of anger when a big kid pushed her into a puddle.

They cared.

They were just to scared to do anything.

That was alright becaue Cassie was scared to.

An older girl watched her from across the street where they were playing. A frown on her face.

...

"You have to stop," she said one day.

Cassie blinked in suprise, "stop?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because you get nothing. That's not how Gotham works."

"But it could."

"It couldn't."

"My daddy said-"

"Your daddy abandoned you. Why can't you see that the only person you should look out for is yourself! That's what he did. What everyone does."

Cassie knows that. Everyone says it.

"Yeah, but I'll never abandon anyone."

The girl seethed and blinked quickly as her eyes glistend, "maybe you should."

Cassie didn't like the sound of that. She looked down at her plate. It was pathetic as always. She offered it to the girl, maybe they could be friends? The girl let out a frustrated cry before storming off and leaving Cassie to wonder about what she did wrong.

...

The girl sneaks her food.

She gives it to her after Cassie puts her own in the newest hiding space.

She says that she's not allowed to give gifts to other people so she has to eat it.

The girl's nice. She's kind. This is worth it.

...

After enough misbehaving the Madame had finally had enough. She searched high and low for someone to take Cassie and had found her uncle. Cassie didn't really know what an uncle was let alone that she had one. But he was family. Which means she wasn't abandoned. Which means she can have a home again. As Cassie's about to get into the car to take her to her uncle's the older girls sprints out much to the Madame sqwaking and gives Cassie a big hug.

She's crying.

"Please. I know it's so selfish but please don't change. Don't let this city get to you like it got to me. Go to Metropolis, go anywhere just don't let it get to you do you understand. Promise me Cassie."

Cassie smiled a toothy grin. Well not quite toothy. She'd lost her front baby tooth.

"Don't be silly the city never got to you."

The girl reached for her as Cassie was pushed into a car.

She stood in the street as the car drove away. Cassie would miss her. Maybe her uncle would let her visit.

She was five and ten months old when she met the boy out the front of the building. He was sitting on the steps and gave her a mean glare before scuttling away. It's not really an introduction but Cassie will be dammned if she didn't make him her friend.

...

Cassie meets her uncle.

He gives her a yellow toothed grin.

The nice lady who took her there leaves without a word.

Cassie's uncle is not kind.

...

Cassie is six when she meets the boy properly.

He had found her sitting on the steps of the building her uncle lived in with a black eye, tears, and a bruise around her neck. He sat next to her. He had a black eye to.

"Are you okay?"

It felt like ages since anybody had asked her.

"I'm fine."

He so clearly didn't believe her.

"I'm Jason," he extended his hand.

she took it, "I'm Cassie".


	3. Friends and Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassie doesn't understand why people keep leaving
> 
> She wishes her Uncle would leave
> 
> Jason promises to stay
> 
> Be kind.

When Cassie first met her uncle she had noticed he had hair just like hers. Drained dirty blonde and frizzy from a humidity that Gotham didn't have. It was like they were only a mockery of her mothers beautiful, beautiful, curls. Perhaps more alarmingly was how similar his smile was. Yet it's edges were a little crueller, the teeth a little more yellow. Cassie looked to the lady who bought her here. Surely she could see that the man in front of them was bad news. Cassie's stomach plummeted even further at the warm and unbothered smile on the womans face.

"So this is little Casey? Haven't seen you since you were two! How old are you now?" he asked condescendingly. 

"My names Cassie," she said quietly, hiding behind the lady as best she could.

The man clapped his hands together as his grin grew even sharper, "is that so?"

"Well officer thank you for bringing little Casey-tron here to my humble abode. I trust that this is it?"

"Well you've already done the paperwork so I guess so," said the lady. She turned back to Cassie, "take care young miss. Your uncles a very nice man so you best be kind to him." 

She didn't even wave goodbye as she left. Casey was left alone in the hallway with her uncle in the doorway. Neither said anything for a while. Her uncle looked her up and down appraisingly.

"You killed her you know that," he said. His voice was deep and just as jagged and sharp as his smile.

Cassie faltered, "what?"

"You and your father. You killed her," he explained.

And then he hit her. It was the first time and it wouldn't be the last but Cassie remembers it clearly. There was no way that the lady who left her here didn't hear her cry, or scream, or whimper out apologies and begs. There was no way. The lady would have paused, maybe looked back, before ultimately resigning herself to do nothing. Maybe she thought her uncle was better than the orphanage? Maybe she thought Cassie would get sent some place worse. But it didn't matter in the end.

She left.

...

Jason takes her up on the roof to read sometimes. Like when her Uncle kicks her out. Jason's also three years older than her. Jason knows how to read. He wants to teach her how to too. So he'll bring a candle or a torch up the ladder and a comic book that he 'found' and they'd start. It's slow and hard but everytime she reads a word right Jason beams and encourages her to keep going.

"You're a natural I promise," he tells her, "it took me way longer to learn how."

"Yeah but you learnt by yourself," she countered focusing really hard on one word on the page.

"My mum helped me," Jason said weakly. Cassie shot him a sympathetic look. Jason's mum wasn't entirely there. Jason said it was drugs but Cassie wonders if it just was. Like how her own mummy was. The word still wasn't making any sense. Cassie groaned in frustration and put the comic book down to roll on her back. The sky was smoggy and she could maybe pick out a helicopter.

"What are you doing?" asked Jason curiously.

"I'm looking for stars."

He laid down beside her, "I'll help."

...

They did not find any stars.

...

Jason tells her she looks fine. That there's nothing wrong with her but, Cassie knows that there is. Her mother's hair had been golden with perfect curls, though the memory got blurrier every day. They were a stark contrast to her own and her Uncle wouldn't let her forget it, even though he had the same hair as hers. He told her that she was a defect, that she came out wrong and that's why mummy died, he told her she looked like the ash in the fireplace and that he ought to sweep her out onto the street.

He also told her that she had his father's eyes.

They were a mix of dark browns and completely Soulless apparently.

Cassie didn't want to be soulless.

Jason says otherwise.

He says things like her uncle didn't know what he was talking about. Or how her uncle was uglier than she could ever be.

Cassie knows the truth. Jason doesn't give up.

Cassie turned six a few weeks ago and was even thinner then she was at the orphanage. Jason had managed to get her a cupcake to celebrate albeit a bit late but old habits die hard as she offered half to Jason and planned to make her own half last as long as possible. Jason always glared at her and said if she wants to stop being thin she should start eating what she's given.

He didn't understand that Cassie knew he was just as hungry as she was. Just like the girl at the orphanage he didn't understand why that mattered.

Which was fine.

Jason hung out with her often and made sure she stayed safe. He talked about everything, from his mother, to his father, to the comic books he was learning to read from. Jason was smart. He was super smart in a way that Cassie would never be. Six-years-old and Cassie already knows that if anyone is going to leave the Narrows it's going to be Jason. Just like how everyone knows that Cassie will be stuck here forever. Because Cassie can't stop being kind and the people who needed kindness the most were here.

He promises that he won't leave.

Cassie knows it's not true.

Everyone knows that.

It's fine.

_Be kind._

...

Cassie does not understand why her Uncle treats her the way he does.

He threw her out of the apartment once again and Cassie yelped in pain. It felt like he'd nearly torn her arm off. 

"You killed her!" he screamed again. 

"I didn't mean to!" Casey cried clutching her arm and trying to run back in. He looked furious.

He grabbed her.

By the arm. 

It cracked.

"You killed my sister," his voice cracked. As she cried and screamed from the pain.

"I don't know your sister," Casey said quickly. His grip tightened.

"Your mother you idiot girl," he spat.

"Aren't you my mother's uncle?"

He slapped her in response and let her little body tumble to the floor.

"I'm her brother you stupid girl and you killed her," he said coldly. Cassie does not understand why he acts the way he acts. She didn't kill her mother. 

Golden curls and hanging feet.

She didn't do that.

Her uncle clearly noticed her confusion beyond the tears and laughed, "she killed herself. But you, you and that bastard of a father, you two were the reason she did it."

And he shut the door. Leaving little Cassie all alone. He had at least let her take out a bag full of snack that will last her till he lets her in. Inside the bag was also Bird, the last thing her father has given her. She took it out and cried into its fur, trying her best and failing to ignore her arm. This wasn't fair. At least she thought it wasn't. Maybe it was. She hugged Bird tighter. Maybe she did kill her mum. It would make sense though right? If she killed her mum. It would explain why kindness hadn't found her. It wouldn't find her. Not till she fixed the biggest wrong she ever did. If she fixed it everything would be better, right?

_..._

Her Uncle had definitely broken her arm. Luckily Jason knew how to set broken bone.

"Shh, you'll be alright," he said quietly

Cassie sniffled again as Jason gently finished putting her arm in the sling "Can you promise that you won't leave?"

He paused, "I already told you I would I leave someone as silly as you. Your," he struggled to find words, "your like a little sister. Your family."

Cassie cried and gave him the biggest hug she could.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then he died ;p. I should probably edit more, tell me if there's anything blatantly obvious wrong.

**Author's Note:**

> Not gonna lie really do want to finish this so pray for me. Comments are appreciated to if anybody cares.


End file.
